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How do I transcribe a meeting recording without a bot in the call?

Record the meeting with your meeting app, a phone or a recorder, then upload the file afterwards. Nobody joins the call and nothing is processed while people are talking. You get a timestamped transcript, with speaker labels on a free account. What you give up is anything live: no live captions, no notes during the meeting, no automatic summary.

Updated

The three routes, compared

  1. A tool that joins the call as a participant (a class of tools; check the one you use)
    Does anyone join the call?: Yes: an extra participant appears, so people can see it
    When you get text: During or right after the meeting
    Where the audio goes: The tool's service, as the call happens
    What you give up or take on: You depend on the tool being admitted to every call, and everyone is told something is listening
  2. Upload the recording afterwards (TryScriptorium)
    Does anyone join the call?: No: you upload a file after the meeting
    When you get text: After you upload and the queue clears
    Where the audio goes: Our server, over HTTPS; guest files are deleted after 24 hours, account files stay until you delete them
    What you give up or take on: Nothing live; a recording must exist; you read and correct the draft yourself
  3. Self-hosted (the same software on your own machine)
    Does anyone join the call?: No
    When you get text: After you run the file through it
    Where the audio goes: Your own hardware; nothing is uploaded
    What you give up or take on: You install and run it yourself; see self-hosted transcription

The first row is a description of the category, not of any named product. Features differ widely between products and change often, so check what the tool you are considering states. We make TryScriptorium, so read our row with that in mind.

When a call-joining tool is the better choice

  • You need live captions or notes during the meeting. TryScriptorium has no live captions and does not join calls.
  • You want an automatic summary or action items. TryScriptorium produces the words with timestamps; summaries are not offered.
  • Nobody will remember to start a recording. A tool that is scheduled into every call does not depend on that.
  • The meeting is too long for one file on your plan. Per-file limits apply to uploads.

When uploading the file is the better choice

  • People on the call would rather not have an extra participant, or the other side's policy does not allow one.
  • You only need a transcript for some meetings, not all of them, and you decide afterwards which ones.
  • You want to edit the text line by line, search it, and export SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON or CSV as well as plain text.
  • The recording is in a language other than English: 33 languages plus automatic detection are supported, and each one works the same way.

Steps

  1. Record the meeting. Use the recording feature of your meeting app if the host and plan allow it, or a phone or recorder in the room. Rules on recording differ between countries and between US states: in some places everyone has to agree to be recorded, in others one person's consent is enough. Check the rule that applies to you, and tell the people in the meeting. This is not legal advice.
  2. Get the file. Download or share the recording as a file. Menu names change between app versions and plans, so check the app's own help for the current wording.
  3. Upload it. Open meeting to text and drop the file in. One file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, 3 tries a day, no account.
  4. Read and fix. Correct names, product terms and numbers with the audio playing. With a free account, turn on speaker labels (up to eight) and rename them.
  5. Export. Copy the text or download TXT, timestamped TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON and CSV.

What it costs

Trying one file needs no account (one file up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, 3 tries a day, no account). A free account has None transcription minutes a month and keeps your transcripts in a library; the paid plans and their per-file limits are on the pricing page. A transcript is an automatic draft and no accuracy percentage is promised: check names and numbers against the audio.

Consent

Rules on recording differ between countries and between US states: in some places everyone has to agree to be recorded, in others one person's consent is enough. Check the rule that applies to you, and tell the people in the meeting. This is not legal advice. If the recording is covered by legal privilege, medical confidentiality or a contractual duty, read is it safe to upload a confidential recording? before you upload anything anywhere.

Questions

Can I transcribe a Zoom, Teams or Meet recording without a bot?
Yes, if the host and plan let you save the recording as a file. Upload the file; see the Zoom page, the Teams page and the Meet page. There is no link input and no integration.
Does TryScriptorium join my meetings?
No. It never joins a call and has no live captions. It works on a recording you upload after the meeting.
Will it label who said what?
Yes, with a free account, for up to eight speakers. The labels come from voices, so check them where people overlap or sound alike.
Can it summarise the meeting?
No. It gives you the words with timestamps. Summaries are not offered.
Is the transcript always right?
No. It is an automatic draft, and no accuracy percentage is promised. Noise, overlapping voices, accents and technical terms cause mistakes, so read it against the audio before you rely on names, numbers or quotes.

Try it with your own file

Upload a recording and read the transcript.

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